Expandable wall rack



March 4, 195s R. L. WATKINS EI'AL EXPANDABLE WALL RACK Filed April 12, 1955 ATTORNEYS INVENTORS fiayrrzorzaZL. 11 a 27123728 Alfred liifiilb in United rates Patent EXPANDABLE WALL RACK Raymond L. Watkins and Alfred R. Kolb, Sn, Paducah, Ky.

Application April 12, 1955, Serial No. 500,832

1 Claim. (Cl. 211-1053) This invention relates to wall racks such as commonly used in supporting towels, wash cloths or the like.

An important object of the invention is to provide a wall rack in the form of a hollow main bar with telescoping end sections capable of being extended beyond the ends of the main bar, adding length to the rack and consequently increasing the capacity thereof.

A further object of the invention is to provide end extensions that are so constructed as to brace the end pieces of the rack under added weight, incident to the positioning of additional towels or cloths on the rack.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists of certain novel details of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter more fully described and pointed out in the claims, it being understood that changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed.

Referring to the drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the rack constructed in accordance with the invention, illustrating one of the adjustable ends of the rack as extended.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a modified form of the invention.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Referring to the drawing in detail, the rack comprises a main bar preferably rectangular in formation, indicated generally by the reference character 5. This main bar is hollow and is provided with supporting arms 6, that extend at right angles with respect to the main bar, at the ends of the main bar. Rectangular plates 7 are secured to the free ends of the arms 6, and these plates are provided with apertures 8 through which suitable securing screws are extended in securing the main bar to a wall or other supporting surface.

The ends of the main bar 5 are open and the extension sections 9 extend telescopically into the open ends of the main bar 5, the extensions 9 being also rectangular in formation to prevent rotation of the sections 9 with respect to the main bar.

Secured to the outer ends of the sections 9 are laterally extended arms 10 of substantially the same length as arms 6, and which are provided with rectangular base plates 11 so constructed that they fit squarely against the wall surface to further brace the extension sections against rotation under the weight supported thereon, the plates 11 and 7 lying in the same plane, so that when sections 9 are extended they are aligned with main bar 5 and equidistantly spaced from the wall surface.

Thus it will be seen that due to this construction, when the extension sections 9 are moved towards each other, to contact with the supporting arms 6, a towel rack for wash cloths or towels is formed. However, by moving the extension sections 9 to their extended positions, as better shown by Fig. 1 of the drawing, the main bar may be used in supporting dry towels or other cloth materials, while wet wash cloths may be hung on the extensions 9 which are separated from the towels or articles supported on the main bar by the supporting arms 6, thereby insuring against the dry towels absorbing moisture from wet wash or face cloths hung on the extensions 9.

In the form of the invention as shown by Figs. 4 and 5 of the drawing, the rack embodies a main tubular section 5' having open ends in which the tubular sections telescope, the tubular sections 6' having caps 7' on their outer ends providing stops which contact the ends of said main tubular section 5' in restricting inward movement of the tubular sections 6'. Brackets in the form of spring arms 8' provide openings 9' in which the main tubular section 5' is held, the brackets also having openings 10 for receiving securing screws by means of which the brackets may be secured to a supporting surface.

With this form of the invention it will also be obvious that the rack may be extended to increase the capacity of the rack as desired.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

A Wall rack comprising an elongated main tubular bar polygonal in cross section, a pair of supporting arms extending right angularly from said main bar, an apertured plate on the inner free end of each of said arms for attachment to a vertical support, a pair of extension bars telescoping into the opposite ends of said main bar, a right angularly disposed arm on the outer end of each extension bar, and a. base plate fixed to the free end of each of said latter named arms, the vertical edge of each of said base plates adjacent its associated apertured plate, confronting the outer vertical edge of its associated apertured plate, said apertured plate and said base plates being aligned in the same vertical plane.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,037,846 Anderson Sept. 10, 1912 1,456,214 Boye May 22, 1923 2,147,625 Brothers Feb. 21, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS 726,478 Germany Oct. 14, 1942 

